The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
» Bulldogs QB competition wide open,
Sprained shoulder means chances for Mathis, Daniels.
To say Georgia’s quarterback competition is wide open heading into Saturday’s game at Missouri might not be a strong enough description.
To begin with, the Bulldogs and coach Kirby Smart aren’t sure yet what the availability will be for Stetson Bennett, who started the last four games. The 5- foot- 11, 198- pound junior sustained a sprained AC joint in his right ( throwing) shoulder early in the Bulldogs’ 44- 28 loss to Florida on Saturday in Jacksonville, Florida. At best, Bennett’s ability to throw and participate in practice will be very limited in the early part of theweek, according to coach Kirby Smart.
“He’s day- to- day, so we don’t know,” Smart said Monday during his weekly news conference. “We’re going to find out today whether he’s going to be able to go out there and throw. So, it’s one of those deals where we don’ t know how effective he’ s going to be, whether he’s going to require another shot ( to practice). But we’re going to get all three of those guys ready, and the one that does the best job will be ready to play.”
By “those three guys,” Smart said he meant Georgia quarterbacks D’ Wan Ma this, JT Daniels and Carson Beck.
Bennett’s availability, hesaid, will be determined later in the week.
Bennett missed Georgia’s last offensive series of the first quarter against the Gators while hewent to the locker room and was administered a cortisone shot. He returned and played the next four offensive series, three of which ended in punts and the last with an interception.
Bennett was replaced by Mathis, the 6- 6, 210- pound redshirt freshman, at the 7: 06 mark of the third quarter and Mathis finished the game. Combined, the two quarterbacks were 9- of- 29 passing for 112 yards and one touchdown with three interceptions.
Daniels is a 6- 3, 210- pound sophomore and first- year transfer from USC. Beck is a 6- 4, 225- pound freshman from Jacksonville who joined the Bulldogs as an early enrollee in January.
Only Mathis has played
this season. In three appearances, including starting the season opener against Arkansas, he has completed just40 percent of his passes for 89 yards with one TD and three interceptions. He has a QB efficiency rating of just 55.9 and has 17 yards on 18 rushes.
Comparatively, Bennett has completed 55.6 percent of his throws for 1,167 yards with eight TDs with six interceptions. His efficiency rating is 129.04.
As a team, Georgia has struggled mightily to throw the football. The Bulldogs head into Week 7 of the season ranked 88th in thenation in passing offense at 209.3 yards per game. So, improvement must bemade regardless of Bennett’s availability.
Smart was asked directly if Bennett would start against the Tigers if he’s healthy. “That’s a great question, a great question,” he said, “only to be answered by the end of the week.”
The most intriguing of the possibilities is Daniels. A former 5- star recruiting prospect from Irvine, California, Daniels signed with USC out of Mater Dei High and started in 12 games and played 742 snaps at before a knee injury cut short his sophomore season. He completed 60.7 percent of his passes for 2,887 yards with 15 touchdowns and 11 interceptions while playing for the Trojans.
However, since his arrival atUGAthis summer, Daniels’ work has been limited almost entirely to the scout team. Hewas medically cleared in the secondweek of the season andhas traveled to every game but has not played.
“JT spends time with our offense, he’s in all the meetings with our offense and goes in there and throws every nowand then,” Smart said. “JT’s got a good arm, there’s no doubt about that. It’s one of those dealswhere
he’s getting better and better every day with mobility. We feel good that he’s able tomove around and do some things with us. Again, he’s going to get some reps with Stetson out and we’ll find outwhere he is.”
Likewise, Beck has gotten almost no looks with the primary offensive unit. He will this week.
Receiver Kearis Jackson and cornerback Eric Stokes were asked about the quarterbacks yet unseen.
“I’m confident withwhoever they put back there,” said Jackson, the Bulldogs’ leading receiver with 27 catches for 396 yards and 2 touchdowns. “It’s our job and the guys around us to build their confidence. We just have to do our job as receivers and theO- line with protecting them.”
Stokes sees Daniels almost every day when the No. 1 defense goes against the scout team.
“He’s just starting to believe in his knee, of course,” Stokes said. “He had big things going with his knee. ... So I’m seeing his progress as far as picking up coverages and knowledge and all that stuff. You canseehimpicking thatup.”
ButSmartemphasizedthat the Bulldogs haven’t closed the door on Bennett being available and still being the primary quarterback.
Regardless of who plays quarterback, the Bulldogs have to vastly improve on passing accuracy. Against Florida, Georgia had receivers running free on deep routes several times and were unable to connectwith them, mostoftenduetooverthrows. Throwing accuracy, Smart said, will be a big part of deciding who will play against Missouri.
“We have such a small sample size on each of these guys, so it’s really tough,” Smart said. “You don’t have the spring sample size, you don’t have the summersample size. All you have is fall camp and the games we’ve had. So ( Bennett’s) sample size in games is larger than the other guys. And he’s made progress as far as third- down decision- making, like the ( TD pass) he took the shot on. After that his accuracy started to go down a little bit and I don’t knowif it was because he was just inaccurate or because of the injury. You have to think it had something to do with the injury because he wasn’t as accurate or effective after it.”